Holy Sh*t: Super-Kamiokande

The Super-Kamiokande is a Cherenkov detector. I'm not really even sure what this is used for honestly; the science is very much above my head. But it is beautiful.

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/08/super-kamiokande.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890

http://www-sk.icrr.u-tokyo.ac.jp/sk/index-e.html

Holy Shit: The cooperative principle

In pragmatics, which is the studies of the meaning of language that falls outside of semantic theory (word and sentence definition, word order etc), there is a system of maxims defined by American philosopher Paul Grice, which govern the rules by which we can understand each other. These are under the umbrella of the cooperative principle for the reason that people generally want to understand what another is saying, so naturally we adhere to some basic principles that allow us to do so.

1. Maxim of quantity - give the correct amount of information; not too little, not too much.
i.e. What are you reading?
no - A book. (although many people do this for comedic effect, or to be difficult)
no - A book, A Tale of Two Cities, which I checked out from the library on August 21st, 2008 at 12:30 pm, from the literature section of the Pilsen library in Chicago... etc (this is of course if they do not ask for more information)
yes - A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens.

2. Maxim of quality - give correct information; don't blatantly lie.
i.e. What is in that bowl on the table? (Spaghetti)
no - Corn (of course, this is also subject to jest/sarcasm)
yes - Spaghetti.

3. Maxim of relevance - giving a reply which fits or fulfills the question.
i.e. Where did you get that sweater?
no - There's a new issue of Superman coming out tomorrow.
yes - From the clearance rack at the Gap.

4. Maxim of manner - speak with clarity and order, which may otherwise confuse the listener.
i.e. no - I fell asleep and we talked about language after we ate dinner.
yes - After we ate dinner, we talked about language and then I fell asleep.


So these rules from first glance are extremely simple, common sense that we all possess and use without thought. However, the interesting part is breaking these rules.
We are so set in these principles and so trusting that people follow them, that when the maxims are broken we as language users assume information from or importance in these words.
The book that I'm reading gives an apt example:
"For example, if someone said: 'What's for supper?' and the reply was the superficially irrelevant one: 'Billy fell downstairs', the hearer is likely to assume that the information about Billy was somehow important, and will fill in the gaps with assumptions such as 'Since Billy was supposed to cook the supper, and he's fallen downstairs, I assume that there isn't any supper ready'."

So this is fascinating to me, for a number of reasons. Firstly, the explanation of how we can understand what we do from what is said, when it is not completely explicit (conversational spoken language is inherently inexplicit) is quite amazing. Secondly, I'd like to further explore the other intentional forms of rules breaking, such as sarcasm and humor, in which people break language rules to reach some end.
Poetry and metaphor even have their ways of confusing the systems of linguistics, especially in concern to the 'impossible sentence' in semantic theory.

Wow, who ever thought I was this much of a nerd.

Holy Shit

Porpita porpita (Chondrophore)

This is a colony of living organisms, measuring 1-in in diameter, all working on their own specific task to help the whole. The gas-filled center keeps the colony afloat. Learn more at Visual Complexity by clicking above, or at wiki

(image copyrighted to NOAA - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. Thanks!)

Holy Shit: Klaus Nomi

As time goes by, it seems more difficult to stumble across/hear about someone you've never heard of, but is truly amazing. However, this makes the discovery even more remarkable. I present to you Klaus Nomi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gma5IUNMTn0&feature=related

Holy Shit V

Mark Schettler shared this with me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology_Fail-Safes Pretty amazing.
Medicine, micro and biotechnology have become increasingly influential in my thoughts and work. I've also noticed, in an effort of humbling ourselves, we state how small and insignificant we are in the "grand scale" of things, that is in the scale of this massive universe we are part of. But there are these particles and processes and systems thousands and millions of times smaller than ourselves and our own, things that are part of us that go unseen and unnoticed in their smallness; absolutely not in their insignificance. So it seems inconsiderate to cast off our importance in this world just because we are not "the largest" or "the smallest" piece or system, because in a scale of infinite measure there is no such thing anyway. We are here too.

Actually, this is what I'm interested in for my graduate thesis.

Holy Shit, The Fourth

Marc showed me this video today. Watch it and be amazed:

http://www.studiodaily.com/main/searchlist/6850.html

Dream Night of 2/11/08 and Holy Shit Pt. 3

I dreamt of dancing; I often have dancing dreams like this, where I'm the only one doing the right steps and the other girls are messing them up and should I follow what they're doing because that's how you make the performance not look terrible if someone completely messes up? I was with old dancemates, and my old instructors. My hair was long in a ponytail that went down to my lower back.

I also dreamt of a plane crash; We were flying over a large canal and couldn't get any air and sank into the water. There was a fire as well. There were small children who I love as my own. I had my phone-cord purse with my cell phone, camera, Ipod and wallet in it, and I kept trying to take it with me when we evacuated even though they tell us not to. Finally I just left it because I was scared of what was going to happen to us.

And HOLY SHIT Part III.

I've been reading this book recently on blood cells, specifically red blood cells. The book is from the 70s but it's filled with these beautiful negative-looking images of these microscopic cells that keep us alive. Red blood cells are 6-8 micrometers in diameter. A micron is one millionth of a meter.

It's amazing how the processes and makeup of our bodies are all basically identical. For the most of us, our cells are all the same size and shape, moving in the same paths through our body almost effortlessly. The malleability and resiliency of our blood is quite amazing as well. There's so many things that could go wrong that don't because our bodies just work. For instance, there are some arteries in our bodies in which our red blood cells have to go through one at a time. It's so bizarre that all this is just going on inside of us right now. Think about that... And that ladies and gentlemen is a Holy Shit moment. Take a look at Red Blood Cells on wiki. And maybe I'll be able to post some quotes from the book I'm reading that blew my mind.

Holy Shit. Part 2

I decided to make this a continuous section of the blog. Because I am constantly finding things that blow my mind. This site is somewhat dumbed down, but still the concepts are amazing.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080930-st-universe-void.html

"mini-black holes are primordial leftovers from the Big Bang and affect space-time differently because of their close association with a fifth dimension." (if that's not a holy shit, I don't know what is)

Holy Shit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmissible_spongiform_encephalopathy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creutzfeldt-Jakob_disease

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia